This invention involves a training device and method to train a person in a live ammunition fire fight. More specifically, the invention involves a remote controlled projectile firing mechanism wherein the projectiles are harmless but mark the person in training while allowing that person to shoot with live ammunition from a firearm.
In police work and in military situations, hand to hand combat with armed weapons is sometimes necessary. It has long been desirable to train personnel so that they will be ready in case a armed conflict becomes necessary. A number of various training systems have been developed including a special range set up to simulate an actual setting where an armed conflict might occur. The trainee is instructed to move through the simulated scene, such as store fronts or house fronts in the simulated street scene. The trainee who is generally seeking to enter or maintain his or her position on a police force carries a loaded firearm and is instructed to shoot targets which flip up or are exposed as the trainee moves through the "street". Some of the targets are "friendly" and some of them simulate an immediate threat to life of the trainee, such as brandishing simulated weapons. The trainee is scored as to his or her speed and accuracy in hitting only the threatening targets. Other systems attempt to simulate the scene somewhat like a video game, however the use of a loaded weapon is missing from that type of training. What is needed is a training system and a device that will allow the trainee to use a loaded weapon while learning the skills of avoiding being shot by an armed "bad guy". For the purposes of this patent the term "firearm" is defined as a weapon, such as a small arms weapon, from which a projectile is fired by gun powder or any equivalent weapon that can injure a person from a distance.
A combat training system and apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,937 to Judd utilizing live ammunition being used by the trainee and simulating enemy fire through the use of a laser connected to the target. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,371 to Hall, a system for training and evaluation of security personnel in the use of firearms features a video display with the trainee using an infrared handgun against simulated fire by a person on the scene. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,569,594 to Aagesen, a projector is used to provide target reporting information with pop up targets allowing the trainee to use live ammunition. A target reporting system audibly advising the shooter of the success or failure of hitting the target is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,533; a target indicating a shot scoring system for a firing range is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,325; a miniaturized linear motion and pop-up target training system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,370; a direct fire weapon simulator using a screen and an illuminator fixed to a screen is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,396; and a training apparatus for firearms use using a motion picture projected onto a screen is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,910.
None of these devices and systems answer the above described need nor attain the objects described herein below.